What do you guys think about it? do you think its a waste of money? have you ever won anything from the lottery or scratch tickets?
Its the same concept as gambling: "the house always wins" Like with scratch cards, even if you do win chances are you spent way more money losing over and over until you got that one card.
If you ever have any questions about our fucked up society, just look to 1984. “The Lottery, with its weekly pay-out of enormous prizes, was the one public event to which the proles paid serious attention. It was probable that there were some millions of proles for whom the Lottery was the principal if not the only reason for remaining alive. It was their delight, their folly, their anodyne, their intellectual stimulant. Where the Lottery was concerned, even people who could barely read and write seemed capable of intricate calculations and staggering feats of memory. There was a whole tribe of men who made their living simply by selling systems, forecasts, and lucky amulets. Winston had nothing to do with the Lottery, which was managed by the Ministry of Plenty, but he was aware (indeed everyone in the party was aware) that the prizes were largely imaginary. Only small sums were actually paid out, the winners of the big prizes being nonexistent persons.” ― George Orwell, 1984
Mega jackpots are estimated annuities. If you take the yearly payment you get the total of the jackpot, minus taxes of course. When you take the lump sum, you take the cash that would have been invested to pay your larger jackpot in the future.
We do scratch tickets. Have hit $10K twice. Hit $50K once. You pay out the ass on taxes when you first get the money. They tax at single person rate.
Haha, interesting. I read 1984 when I was in school in the '60s and have forgotten most of it, including your post. I have never bought a lottery ticket in my life and have no plans to. I despise the whole notion of this or any other government monopoly. Lottery is in my face every day when I go to the grocery store "express" line and have to wait for assholes to buy numerous lottery tickets. Or when I buy gasoline. Or I go to the local bar for lunch. The bar is particularly annoying. Before they had lottery (about 15 years ago) there was the normal local gossip, ball-busting, and other interactions while one sat at the bar. Now most of that is gone as people are busy buying tickets, then focusing their attention on the government TV that selects the numbers, and screaming if they win a few bucks. Yawn. As for the idiots with all the intricate calculations to pick winners that Orwell mentions, I've seen that IRL. I noticed a "friend" during lunch, about 20 years ago, was monkeying with some figures on his napkin. I asked him what it was and he said he was "wheeling the numbers" for the lottery. I asked him explain what he was doing. Once he did, I told him "You stupid idiot, you can't calculate any odds for the lottery -- it is entirely random." At some point he gave up on the lottery and started focusing on the stock market. He thought he could "beat the market" with fancy calculations on what happened yesterday, last week, etc. Haha, you idiot, the stock market isn't driven by history, it is driven by millions of people making millions of real-time decisions, every day, about where to put their money. You cannot base anything on that, unless you have a crystal ball. Food stamps, lotteries, obsessions with sports = the Roman "bread and circuses." The sun is setting on Western civilization.
I do scratch tickets occasionally. I only buy the new ones though. I have a bunch of friends who have gotten 100-2000 from scratch offs. I never won over $50. I don't play the guessing numbers shit. Fuck that.
I was at the bar with a buddy the other day and he spent $29 on pull tabs (Michigan Lottery) and won $207. I don't gamble often once in a while I will buy a mega millions ticket but that's about it. Don't gamble what you cant afford to loose
They don't call it a tax on stupid people for nothing. That said, I do enjoy a scratcher every now and then
There's this little old lady that comes in and plays like $30 of lottery per day. One day she said she wanted to win so she could buy herself some new gloves one day. My jaw almost hit the floor at her stupidity. If I wouldn't have cost me my job, I would have told her to not play lotto one day and she could buy herself ten pairs of gloves.
I didn't read this thread but I got a story. I used to live in South Carolina and the year I turned 18 they finally had a legit lottery going on. Well, I'm like 18 yrs old and 4 months and I decide to buy a ticket. I was working for a carwash (could be Franks carwash but we'll never know) and the was a gas station right down the block. I walk that way on my break (stoned, of course) to buy my 1st lottery ticket. I swear to Jesus I found a wheat penny on the sidewalk on the trip. Anyway I get to the gas station and buy a pack of Marlboro Milds (Non tobacco smoker now) and a dollar scratch off ticket. I shit you not fellow blade, I won my dollar back. I kept the "winning" ticket haven't played lottery since. Sadly my lucky ticket was stolen in Lexington, Kentucky while sleeping before a car show. Fuck Kentucky and I'm perfect on the lotto..
Yeah you have an almost 100% chance of keeping your dollar if you don't spend it on a lottery ticket.
You also have a 100% chance of not turning that dollar into anything larger. The odds are obviously stacked way against you on the bigger prizes, but there are millions of dollars available in smaller prizes. Hell I've even sold $1000 winners at work. The lottery (gambling as a whole actually) is just like anything else; moderation is the key.